Vodafone emerges as challenger to EE in network tests

EE claims 15 out of 19 RootMetrics awards outright or tied for first place for tests in London’s most densely populated areas, but Vodafone picks up seven awards

EE has once again claimed the bulk of the latest RootMetrics network performance test awards, but Vodafone has emerged as a serious contender to its dominance.

RootMetrics has released results of research into consumer mobile performance in London’s most populated areas, including core districts as well as sporting venues, airports, train stations and major shopping centres.

EE claimed 15 out of the 19 overall awards outright or tied for first place, but Vodafone claimed seven awards within the central districts making up the ‘London Urban Zone’.

RootMetrics conducted 60,000 tests, with half of the time spent indoors, which it said provides the most accurate picture of mobile performance in seven central London districts.

Testing was carried out in Bloomsbury, Canary Wharf, Chelsea, City of London, Knightsbridge, Mayfair and Westminster – the districts making up the London Urban Zone.

However, one area that EE doesn’t lead is blocked calls, with double the failure rate (2.6 per cent) of Vodafone (1.3 per cent). EE does have the largest 4G footprint across the London Urban Zone (95.8 per cent), with its three rivals all above 75 per cent.

Venues

In tests conducted at major venues, EE claimed two out of three awards – Wembley Stadium and the Emirates Stadium. Surprisingly, Vodafone took the award at the O2 Arena.

The fastest median speed found was EE’s 9.9Mbps at the Emirates, while Three’s median upload speed of 0.2Mbps at Wembley was the slowest.

Train stations

EE and Vodafone shared the awards at the capital’s major train stations. EE took the top awards at Euston, London Bridge and Waterloo, with Vodafone winning Liverpool Street outright. They tied for the overall award at London Victoria.

EE achieved the fastest and most consistent speeds across the stations, with a 32.2Mbps median download speed at London Bridge. Vodafone secured the fastest median download speeds at Liverpool Street and Waterloo.

Airports

EE earned a clean sweep across London’s airports for overall performance and speed. EE’s median download speed at Heathrow (31.2Mbps) was the fastest at any airport.

Retail

Test’s at the capital’s biggest shopping centres showed Vodafone and EE tie for the top award at Westfield London with the latter claiming the Westfield Stratford City award outright.

RootMetrics director of international strategic accounts Scott Stonham said: “A good mobile service is a vital part of the city’s basic infrastructure and while we can achieve good performance across the capital, our data shows networks have room room for improvement when it comes to handling demand in large venues.”